mezura translations

James Thomas

Translations from Spanish to English

I offer well-prepared, accurate and stylish translations from Spanish into English for both short- and long-term projects for the European market and longer-term projects for the Latin and North American markets.

I started learning Spanish in 1997 in Barcelona, speaking it daily for over five years. Early translation projects included a pilot episode of a satirical cartoon and sleeve notes for an LP of Moog synthesizer music. Alongside French, Spanish was the principal language in the core module of my MA in Translation. I have recently translated from Spanish for wine producers and magazines, through the Vinglish agency, as well as academic abstracts in the field of urban geography. I am also currently undertaking literary translations from Spanish.

For a non-exhaustive list of other subjects covered, please see my homepage

VI

I meant always to burn
your body in my soul,
but I always end up
with my soul burnt out
by the body’s flame.

VII

From green savage vine
and crusty and steely and hardy Holm oak,
I wished all afternoon
to braid a crown.
What for and for whom?
I returned with hands that were aching
and chafing with sap.
Behind, out on the earth,
I left abandoned my impossible offering,
the sober crown
of my solitude.

VIII

These are the black mountains
cracked and broken by the snow and moanings
that have seen me born.
Why have I come to pass through them
the fervour and light
of your love?
The passage of time, which fractures the rock,
What won’t it do to the sweetest love?

IX

For just an instant
I see the earth’s blood rising up
and in it my passion coalesces.
(Between the stony plots,
sown with thyme and serpents,
the sun’s chariot of fire
creaks past)

X

Songs of love and war,
Fierce Mars and the sweetest nightingale
have struggled within my soul
since I saw the light,
since the beginning of time.
But with your body mine will fight
an endless battle
until the finish comes:
the victory or defeat
of my music.